WhatsApp to Roll out New Feature Soon, Enhancing Privacy in 'Last Seen' Status

In the digital times, WhatsApp is the most popularly used instant messaging app. The “Last Seen" feature of the app is  either very helpful, or it is very annoying for the users who are trying to avoid certain text messages. However,  there is a feature in the app which allows users to turn off the Blue Ticks and “Last Seen" timestamp from their WhatsApp accounts. The hiding feature offers a very limited accessibility to the users by either turning both the features on or off. In the recent update, WhatsApp will be rolling out a new privacy option by allowing the users to have the ability of hiding their Last Seen status on WhatsApp from specific contacts. With the new feature coming soon, users will be able to select who all they want to see their “Last Seen" timestamp.

While the Last Seen feature is useful for the users to find out when a certain contact was last seen on the app, it is also a little intruding in certain cases. The new feature, in which WhatsApp will be offering more opportunities for the users to hide their Last Seen from, was found in a beta version of the app. The new feature was first found by WhatsApp tracker WABetaInfo, who also shared a screenshot showing how the feature will look like on the Android app for WhatsApp. 

At present, if any WhatsApp user want to hide their last seen from people, they need to go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen. Users can only see three options - Everyone, My Contacts, and Nobody. In the new update, users will be able to opt for a new option as My Contacts Except…

The fresh and fourth option will enable the users to hide their Last Seen time from specific contacts. Users will have to select contacts that they don’t want to share their last seen time with.